Digital Government News

Privacy Awareness Week highlights privacy as the foundation of trust

Eliza Sayon May 3, 2022

2 min read

Privacy authorities from around Australia are joining together for Privacy Awareness Week 2022 to highlight privacy as the foundation of trust between the community, business and government agencies.

As the digital economy continues to grow, organisations are considering new ways to handle personal information. The Privacy Awareness Week, which will run from 2 to 8 May 2022, shines a spotlight on the importance of protecting personal information.

“As the community engages further in the online world, trust-based on an organisation’s solid privacy foundations will play a fundamental role in supporting successful innovation,” Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk said.

“Our personal information goes to the foundations of who we are. Organisations covered by the Privacy Act have responsibilities to protect this important information as trusted data custodians.”

According to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), organisations are more likely to be trusted with personal information by citizens if they are able to show that they handle it responsibly, transparently, accountably and in ways, the community would regard as fair and reasonable.

“This requires organisations to build privacy into products and services, right from the start,” Commissioner Falk said.

“There are also simple steps we can all take to protect our personal information like recognising its value and only sharing it with those we trust.”

While the 2022 awareness campaign highlights the importance of getting the foundations of privacy rights, it is also essential that an organisation’s privacy platform is continually evolving and being upgraded to respond to economic and technological innovation and community expectations.

Now in its 17th year, Privacy Awareness Week is held every May as an initiative of the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities.

Commissioner Falk said high support for the event shows more organisations are recognising the value of privacy and its role in building trust.

“The OAIC is pleased to see more than 590 organisations have shown their support for Privacy Awareness Week and committed to promoting good privacy practice and advancing the privacy rights of individuals,” she said.

Australia’s privacy authorities will continue to work together to uphold privacy protections and promote awareness of rights and the responsibilities of individuals, businesses and government agencies.

Commissioner Falk, who has virtually launched the Privacy Awareness Week yesterday, was joined by Apple’s Chief Privacy Officer Jane Horvath, Chief Executive Officer of Services Australia Rebecca Skinner PSM and Consumer Policy Research Centre’s CEO Erin Turner for a discussion about why privacy matters and what good privacy practices can enable, approaches to privacy and the role of privacy in building trust with the community.

Source: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.